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| Around midnight Ledain finally regained some semblance of consciousness. Helping him sit up, Tylassa fed him broth she'd made, in the hopes he would wake up at some point. The broth seemed to bring Ledain around, but he was greatly confused at first and when he first spoke to her, it was in a language she'd never heard before, and she'd trained in many of the commonly spoken human languages for her travels. He shook his head slightly, as if to try to clear it, then spoke in Common, his voice hoarse from the torture he'd been through, "Thank you for rescuing me...how did you find me?" |
| She lightly patted the sheathed blade that was laying nearby, it's nearness seemingly to have soothed his nightmare haunted sleep caused by the fever. "The Sunblade lead me to you." |
| Ledain quirked an eyebrow up questioningly, but didn't say anything, but simply nodded, looking thoughtful. |
| Tylassa hesitated for a moment, then spoke again. "I hope you know a cure for a succubus's bite, I've tried everything I know of to deal with poison, but it hasn't broken your fever..." She trailed off a bit nervously, and bit her lower lip slightly. |
| He sighed, "The only thing I know of that helps cure the bite of a Succubus, I'm not going to ask you to do." She lowered her eyes and blushed slightly, something that didn't happen often. |
| "So...how did you resist them? The stories I've heard about succubi, a man can't resist their embrace. Usually because they can take on the appearance of a woman the victim is in love with. Or lust in some cases." |
| Wearily, he leaned back against the pillows that Tylassa had made of their packs and extra blankets. "None of them were strong enough to make me think she was you." |
| Silence fell between them and stretched out. Then their eyes and hands met, he drew her close with a gentle smile. |
| When dawn came, he gently climbed out of their rumpled sleeping pad, pulled on a pair of trousers, a light shirt over his now healed chest and stomach, and went outside to watch the sunrise, and a chance to think alone. A soft voice nearby disrupted that illusion. "Toying with the mortals now? I always thought you were better than that." |
| Wearily, "You know me better than that." |
| "Then why?" |
| "Would you believe I actually fell in love with her?" |
| Soft laughter. "Actually I can, she's possibly one of the strongest women I've seen, only a strong woman could have made you fallen for her." |
| Almost to himself, "It's not that she's strong....her heart and soul blaze brighter than many I've seen. She is one of the finest people I've known." |
| "So what are you going to do when your quest is over?" |
| Silence, then quietly "I don't know." |
| The soft laughter came again, "What happened to my old friend who had a plan for everything?" |
| "A mortal", he sounded almost mournful. |
| "Good luck, my friend." The owner of the voice quietly walked away. |
| Ledain sat there for awhile longer, not seeing the rising sun, or the people that started to go about their daily activities. He didn't even notice Tylassa near him, until she lightly touched his shoulder, causing him to jump in surprise. "Is everything alright? When I woke up and you weren't there, I got worried." |
| He smiled at her a bit wanly, "Everything is as well as it can be." |
| "You're regretting last night." Her voice was carefully neutral. |
| "Only that we likely won't be able to remain together once we've achieved our qu-" She cut him off by putting a finger to his mouth. |
| "We don't know what's going to happen today. Let's just take it one day at a time, I'll be happy just to live through this nightmare with my wits intact." |
| He smiled at her ruefully, lightly kissed her hand, then went back in to the building with her to get ready for the day's travels. |
| More time passed, seeing them slogging through some of the worst terrain they'd seen: swamps, bogs, and heavily overgrown jungle. This time they were prepared for what they were going to see in Travincal after the debacle at the ruins of Kurast, this time though, the demons they fought had been human at one time. Humans that had been warped and twisted by the foul presence of a greater Evil. Humans that appeared to have willingly given themselves up to the Darkness. In silence they proceeded through the once holy city, purging it of all the creatures that were of the Dark. |
| It was underneath the High Temple of the city that they found the entrance way to a dark and grim fortress, which Ledain believed to belong to Mephisto. Tylassa was forced to agree when they found a barely living warrior, who'd been on the same trail as they. With his dying breath, he gasped out what he'd seen on the lower levels, then his spirit fled before Ledain's healing magics or Tylassa's potions could help him. Somberly, they laid his body out and performed their rituals to lay his soul to rest and to keep it from being reanimated or possessed by the dark things lurking in the fortress. |
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